The Laptev Sea is located on the mainland plate of the Eurasian continent. Its borders are the Kara Sea, the basin of the Arctic Ocean and the East Siberian Sea. It owes its name to the Laptev brothers, who devoted their lives to exploring the North. Its other names - Nordenscheld and Siberian - are less relevant. The area of the sea is 672, 000 square meters. km., depths of up to 50 meters prevail everywhere. Only a fifth of the bottom is submerged more than 1000 meters. The maximum depth was recorded in the Nansen Basin and is equal to 3385 m. The sea bottom is silty in deep places and sandy silt - in shallow ones.
Due to the huge number of rivers flowing into Nordensköld, the sea surface has a low salt concentration. The Laptev Sea receives most of the water from Khatanga and Lena - the main arteries of Siberia. Sea temperature is rarely above zero. This is one of the harshest places on the planet.
But life did not disregard this section of our planet. Despite the fact that the sea surface is almost always covered with ice and despite the small amount of sunlight, vegetation can be found on the shore. Flora here is represented by various diatoms and other microscopic algae. Plankton microorganisms can also be detected.
The coastline is severely indented. The steep banks are dotted with birds that fly here to breed offspring. Seagulls, guillemots, chistiki and many other birds bring their chicks here. Bird eggs attract small predators such as arctic foxes who are not averse to indulging in delicacies. Bird markets also attract larger animals such as the polar bear. Along the mainland along the coast there are sea urchins and stars, mollusks and other small inhabitants of the sea depths.
In the Laptev Sea, there are about 40 species of fish - these are cod, omul, Arctic char and many others. Extraction is not possible due to ice crust on the surface. Sports fishing is also poorly developed due to the remoteness of the sea from residential areas.
Mammals are represented by walruses, minke whales, seals and beluga. Their extraction is also absolutely undeveloped for the reasons described above. The existence of Laptev sharks in the waters of the sea is not known. But we can assume that such conditions are quite suitable for the polar shark. In warmer times, a herring shark can get here from neighboring seas.
Recently, a large number of projects related to offshore oil and gas production began to appear. This is due to low depths over most of the entire sea. Seismic knowledge of the bottom provides excellent preconditions for conclusions about the high content of oil and gas. Shallow depths allow drilling not from special offshore platforms, but from bulk islands.
Currently, oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft are planning to carry out work on drilling the first wells on the Laptev Sea. Each in turn will have to bring to the shelf and foreign partners. It remains only to wait for the moment when the development of the Laptev Sea will nevertheless begin.
